Publishers and developers that are under the impression that the used games market is hurting them can't wait for everything to go digital. One such developer is Obsidian Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer Chris Avellone. You may know the company best for such games as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Dungeon Siege III, Fallout: New Vegas - and soon - the South Park RPG.
In a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Avellone said "Of course, one of the greatest things about digital distribution is what it does to reduce the used game market. I hope digital distribution stabs the used game market in the heart."
Avellone also noted that developers have more flexibility with digital releases.
"One of the things I enjoyed with Fallout: New Vegas was that digital distribution of the DLC made things more flexible in terms of getting the content done. You didn't have to worry about production times for discs, and so you could take an extra week if you needed that to get things right," he said.
Avellone hopes that one day digital distribution will allow his company to distribute its own games:
"Our eventual hope is that we can stockpile enough resources to release our own titles digitally. Smaller games can be very satisfying projects to work on, and it would be great to do that. But it's going to take time for us to get there; we want to make sure we do it right."
Of course, the company is better known for making sequels for franchises owned by other publishers and developers, and not its own properties. So far its original work consists of Alpha Prime.
You can read the rest of the interview here.
Source: IndustryGamers
Comments
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
For one I agree. The price in the store is based on shipping, the disputation of the product and other factors. Being the middle man is cut out they can do a Walmart (This is what Walmart does to have low prices) and sell low!
Seriously for someone like me who had family members steal their products I buy only digital and I would love to get what it actually costs to get this product
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
I don't see consumers being all that happy going directly to developers for their games, at least not on any significant scale. People tend to like one-stop shopping... the idea of having to track down the individual website that sells a particular game and go through each company's own home grown ordering and download system.. would probably piss people off.
People are already getting frustrated with the 'ok, is this game on Steam, Impulse, Apple's Appstore? do I need accounts/daemons for all of these now?'
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
This from the developers who can't make a stable, bug-free game to save their lives! Hey Avellone, you want to really cut down on the used game market? STOP MAKING SHIT GAMES!!! Get some real quality control in there and make sure your games are polished and at least 90% bug free before you send them out the door. That way people will be less inclined to take them back and re-sell another one of your broken games rather than wait an unspecified number of days or weeks for a patch.
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
Here is a deal for you...
We'll scrap the used-sales market, the day YOU give gamers an inch of standard CUSTOMER RIGHTS. Publishers got a pretty sweet deal at the moment. Sell games that isn't working... and not having to do anything about it.
Btw... South Park RPG... Uhm, why not a Beavis and Butthead RPG as well? An equally dead IP.
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
I'm sure the chump change that goes into buying used games is needed for some jackass publisher to host his yacht party. Everytime I buy a digital PS1 classic on my PS3, I always have an uncomfrotable suspicion that these kinds of thoughts run through the heads of those manatees.
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
I don't understand, what do these game companies who rail against the used games market want? Every single game that's ever sold to be brand new copies? Do they really want their entire customer base to have to to go directly to them in order to play any game they don't currently have, regardless of how fucking old it is?
Fuck that. We put you in your mansions, we don't deserve to get treated like that. I'll pay for my games, but if I can't sell them to someone else at any point after I stop liking them, I'm just going to start shipping them back to the developers, since they'll obviously be allowed to. Is that what you want Obsidian? You want your games back so that only you make any profit off of them? Fine, you can have... Oh shit, I don't play any of your games. Tough luck I guess.
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
Because of course, any suggestion that the used games market is anything other than the pinnacle ofhuman achievement is totally unacceptable!
Can we grow up a little when it comes to reacting to industry members acknowleging there is a thing called "used games", and drop the entitled, short-sighted histrionics? Thanks.
/b
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
Yes. Hoping that used games "gets stabbed in the heart" is exactly the same as acknowledging that the used game market exists.
Seriously? Do you ever get tired of defending such out of touch and extreme comments as simply "acknowledging that something exists"?
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
Take your own advice. If anyone is immature and seeking attention, it's you. Nobody is impressed by your usage of uncommon vocabulary either.
"Because of course, any suggestion that the used games market is anything other than the pinnacle ofhuman achievement is totally unacceptable!"
That is a straw man. Nobody has said anything that implies any such opinion as that. That you even think that is what people believe exhibits how ignorant you are.
-Greevar
"Paste superficially profound, but utterly meaningless quotation here."
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
Bitch used whine used moan used.
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
I'm not seeing any bitching, whining or moaning- merely someone making a throwaway comment about how they've identified one thing that exists, and how it runs counter to another thing that they have indentified exists.
At worst, it's still framed as a positive, and therefore still not bitching, whining or moaning- "Thing A is great, because there is no more Thing B" is not the same as "Thing B is terrible"
/b
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
If "I hope this gets stabbed in the heart" doesn't count as whining in your book, then I dunno what would. Yes its a short, throwaway whine, probably out of context, but it's a whine nonetheless.
I dont blame him. If any other company saw a potential way to stop people buying second-hand I'm sure they'd want to do it too. Most companies, though, have the common sense not to say so in public, annoying the people who buy their products.
Re: Obsidian Hopes Digital 'Stabs Used Games Market In The ...
Yes it is. It's exactly the same. Would getting rid of something good be good? Would getting rid of something that is neither good nor bad be a good thing? No, neither of those would be. It is implied and clear that "A" getting rid of "B" is good because "B" is bad. Your logic is faulty.
-Greevar
"Paste superficially profound, but utterly meaningless quotation here."